Culligan Blog

We are proud to announce that the Culligan Aqua-Cleer Drinking Water System has just earned the coveted, and much revered, Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. That brings the total to 8 Culligan products that are backed by the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval:

• Aqua-Cleer Drinking Water System

• AC-30 Good Water Machine Drinking Water System

• Gold Series Whole House Water Filter

• Medallist Series Whole House Water Filter

• Iron-Cleer Whole House Filter

• Platinum Plus Series Water Softener

• Gold Series Water Softener

• Medallist Series Water Softener

Now, just about everyone knows what the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval is, but I wonder if many people know much more about the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval (herein known as the “GHSA”). Like what it really stands for or how a product gets the GHSA.

For example, did you know that there actually is a Good Housekeeping Research Institute? Good Housekeeping has an 18,500 square-foot testing facility where all they do is test products. Every day their engineers rigorously test just about every product imaginable to ensure that the product's claims are valid and authentic. And only the ones that live up to Good Housekeeping’s standards for quality and durability are awarded the GHSA. In fact, in 99 years of product tests, only 5000 products ever have been awarded the GHSA.

Another interesting fact is that Good Housekeeping actually offers their own two year warranty for any product it awards with the GHSA. If that product proves to be defective within two years of purchase, Good Housekeeping will replace the product or refund the purchase price. It’s a good thing Culligan’s products are made to last. Of course, if they weren’t, we wouldn’t have 8 products that have been granted the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

To learn more about the Good Housekeeping Research Institute, watch the video: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7081684

A few weeks ago there was a story about a speech at the 2008 Plastic Business Summit given by the President/CEO of one of the leading bottled water manufactures. In his speech, he expressed frustration with the media over how they are portraying bottled water manufactures as environmentally-unfriendly. He marveled at “how one day a product can be touted as a success in promoting healthy habits, and the next take it to task for its environmental footprint.”

Problem is, single-serve plastic bottles are horribly unfriendly for the environment (quick explanation). It takes enormous amounts of oil, fuel and emissions to make and distribute the millions of bottles made and sold every year. And then there’s the fact that most of those bottles never get recycled and end up choking our landfills.

Which means millions and millions of these small plastic bottles are going to end up in our landfills each year. And while these companies are taking steps to be reduce their overall footprint (the speaker was quick to bring up his company’s efforts to improve their corporate footprint), it seems like the right solution is not compensating for a negative impact on the environment but rather creating solutions that are greener from the start.

At Culligan, for example, we have always been focused on more environmentally-friendly products and solutions. For example, we offer bottled water in 5-gallon bottles so consumers get more water with less footprint than single-serve bottles. Plus, we recycle and reuse almost all of these 5-gallon bottles.

We also have developed a complete line of advanced drinking water systems. Each of these environmentally-friendly solutions put a virtual unlimited supply of drinking water right at your kitchen tap. So now you’re not using (and throwing away) and plastic bottles not to mention you have great water for just about everything – cooking, making ice, in appliances like your iron, even feeding the pets. You certainly aren’t going to do that with single-serve bottles of water.

When it comes down to it, we all have to do our part to help the environment and fortunately, Culligan water is a very refreshing way to be green.